Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine - Sawbones: Oil Pulling

Episode Date: March 18, 2014

Welcome to Sawbones, where Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her husband Justin McElroy take you on a whimsical tour of the dumb ways in which we've tried to fix people. This week: We swish some oil. Music: "Med...icines" by The Taxpayers (http://thetaxpayers.net)

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Saubones is a show about medical history, and nothing the hosts say should be taken as medical advice or opinion. It's for fun. Can't you just have fun for an hour and not try to diagnose your mystery boil? We think you've earned it. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy a moment of distraction from that weird growth. You're worth it. that weird growth. You're worth it. Alright, time is about to books. One, two, one, two, three, four. We came across a pharmacy with a toy and that's lost it out. We pushed on through the broken glass and had ourselves a look around.
Starting point is 00:00:56 Come medicines, come medicines, the escalant macaque for the mouth! Hello everybody and welcome to Saw Bones, a marital tour of Miss Guyed Medicine. I am your co-host, Justin McAroy. I'm Sydney McAroy. And Justin, what are you drinking? Oil. Is that a bottle of western oil? Yeah, I'm drinking oil. No, stop.
Starting point is 00:01:28 Don't drink more. What are you doing? Why are you doing that? I saw Facebook. You saw what? What did you do? I saw on Facebook oil. You saw oil on Facebook and now you're drinking it?
Starting point is 00:01:42 Okay. This is a Pinterest thing. I told you, don't know how to use Pinterest. Stay away from it. I saw a bunch of people saying, well, I didn't see what they said. There was a picture of oil and you put in your mouth and something happens that is good.
Starting point is 00:01:58 I saw on Facebook several times. So this is coming from a reputable source that I did not investigate the procedures or specifics of it. So you didn't read any of the notes. Okay, no, please stop. Just until we're done. Could you not drink that anymore? Please. But I need it. No, I so did for, sorry, for health. Right. For health. So I'm guessing you didn't read any of these articles. No, I saw oil and you put it in your mouth, which I'm assuming you swallow it. That's what I do with things in my mouth. That's a whole other conversation. No, what? Okay. There's no Mr. Yuck on this bottle of
Starting point is 00:02:38 Western. I'm assuming I'm cool. No, no, that's not, I think you were, I'm gonna guess you were seeing articles about oil pulling. That sounds familiar. Is that, does that probably what it was? I didn't make it deep into the headline. I'm not like a deep reader, I'm more like a casual browser. You didn't read the entire headline? That's almost the picture. Most of the picture.
Starting point is 00:03:01 We didn't even look at the entire picture. Definitely a mouth. Definitely oil. Definitely for my health. Okay, well, I think you're using the internet wrong, but we'll cover that some other time. Okay. Right now it sounds like you're oil pulling.
Starting point is 00:03:14 Oil pulling. And it sounds like you're doing it very badly. I'm not, I would say I'm not getting many health benefits. Let me just, I'll just say I'm not drinking oil. That. Let me just, I'll just say that. I'm drinking oil that's no wonder. I feel bad, I guess. I feel actively worse than I did before I started. Yeah, next time you're gonna try something like that,
Starting point is 00:03:34 I really wish you'd talk to me first. Well, maybe you could talk to me about actual oil pulling and I'll see how it differs from my sort of like more at home spun off the grade method. Right, if you'll make me one promise. Hit me. Until we're done with this show, will you please not drink any more oil? Okay.
Starting point is 00:03:51 I can't make that promise, but I will do my best. Okay. Well, I suppose I'll live with that. So, let's go back to, before we talk about oil pulling, which I know everybody's dying to hear about. Yeah, this is like our most requested episode ever. And normally we don't talk about things that are hot right now, not modern treatments. It's so trendy, so super cool.
Starting point is 00:04:13 This is very cool. Lots of people are into this right now. I know, I feel very hip talking about it. Yeah, I feel finally plugged in for the first time ever. This is the coolest thing I've ever done in my life. All right, tell me about oil pulling. Okay, the reason we can talk about it is that it's really old, actually. It's new and it's old.
Starting point is 00:04:28 It's an old new thing. So the roots are in Ayurvedic medicine, which is, I think I've mentioned it maybe a couple times on the show before, but it's a traditional form of, it's like folk medicine and it's from India. There were the texts, the original religious texts were the Vedic texts, and then there were texts written after that called the Iar Vedic texts, and they're kind of about healthy living, actually about the treatment and curing diagnosis of diseases, that kind of thing. But in general, kind of like this holistic approach to how
Starting point is 00:05:04 you should live. So that's where this idea comes from. So before we get into oil pulling, I want to tell you a little bit about Ayurvedic Medicine and why this maybe, give you some context that may explain where the heck this came from. So the idea in Ayurvedic Medicine is that there are three basic elements, or doshas, that's the vata, the pitta, and the kafa. And you have to keep these three things in balance. Does this sound familiar at all?
Starting point is 00:05:35 Yeah, kind of like the humors, right? I kind of thought it did. I wonder if that's not a similar idea, you know, to the origin, origins of the humor's theory, that there's different stuff going on in our body, we don't really understand it, but we definitely want to keep it in balance. And that's the same kind of thing. Balance equals health, imbalance equals disease. What is unique about this?
Starting point is 00:05:58 Unlike the humors, which we pretty much accepted that everybody had to have the same balance of humors, with the dosha, your balance is unique to you. Okay. I feel that makes me feel kinda special actually. A lot of this can be kind of dehumanizing. Make me feel like just a number. I'm glad I got special dosha. I think it's kinda neat,
Starting point is 00:06:20 because they determine your personality. So one might be more fiery, one might be more like, one might be more like even tempered, you know. And what mix you have of different ones. One's like, is there one that's like good at basketball? Cause it seems like that would be count my thing. That's the hoops.
Starting point is 00:06:35 Hoops, docha. The hoops docha. That's what you have like 95% of you is hoops. That's what I figured. The other 5% is black bile. Yeah, that's weird. That's weird how that works out. It's why I'm so fierce though on the court. So again, it's not just maintaining a perfect balance of these three elements. It's maintaining your balance. It's restoring your body to your personal balance that makes you you. Okay. Um, and like I said in these texts,
Starting point is 00:07:05 they go through mention of like traditional diagnostics that we would use today, things like testing urine and stool. And these are really old, I should mention, like the earliest date back to like 180. Wow, okay. Um, I'm gonna be referencing a lot from the Chiraka Samita, which is from probably 300 to 500. She's all right.
Starting point is 00:07:27 She's like old medicine. This is a real medical history. They're not really. Exactly. This is old time medicine. Okay. Technically old time medicine. But they're already talking about in these texts.
Starting point is 00:07:39 Like I said, diagnosis through testing various bodily fluids. There's some surgical advice, like how to do C-sections and some plastic surgeries We've talked about in previous episodes And then some like diagnostic and treatment approaches to things like tuberculosis Leprosy seizures even probably diabetes what they were describing as diabetes. So there's some really useful Medicine in these texts Especially for the time. I mean, I'll, again, understanding what the time period was.
Starting point is 00:08:09 But there's this whole other section, again, probably not only as useful, maybe more useful, unlike healthy living. So that's where you get into like diet and digestion and yoga and meditation and like the importance of sleep and hygiene and that kind of stuff Important to like doing you and standing in your truth and Just being being the best you you can be well Yeah, I mean, I guess that's actually not too far off because it's all about maintaining your personal balance Yeah, so yeah, it kind of is this is like the I you're saying basically what you're saying to me is the Ayurvedic Text for the Cosmo of their day.
Starting point is 00:08:47 Basically. I mean, they're probably that popular. Okay, I can accept that. Now, it's Cosmo is still popular. I don't know, well, no magazine is popular. No one's ever read a magazine that is alive today. Really? Yeah, that's actually true.
Starting point is 00:08:59 I thought I'd read a magazine. Nope, no, I haven't. No one's ever bought a project of magazine. They're there strictly as a window dressing at the grocery store So you do not guess that you are in a true min show style production of Your life is a television program. I'm pretty sure entertainment weekly comes here Have you ever tried to open it? You can't it's just a profit. I thought I read it to keep myself grounded When you start to think you're too podcast famous, you open it and realize, hey, I'm not famous.
Starting point is 00:09:28 Nobody knows who I am. Somebody at the hospital recognized me today. Wow. I know. So do you work for them? No. Okay, like a stranger. Well, like a friend of yours.
Starting point is 00:09:41 Okay. I could learn with that. So the one thing I should mention, one downfall of the Ayurvedic text, because I've been talking about all the cool stuff that's on them, is the Rasa Shastra, which is the practice of adding metals, like heavy metals or minerals to medicines. So that sounds good.
Starting point is 00:10:02 I know I have like iron, you've taken like iron supplements before, and like I take magnesium supplements sometimes from my cramps well That's that's true. Then that's fine, but this magnesium a metal. I yeah, it is a metal Yeah, so there you go magnesium. Okay, I take that so that's fine Well, that is a good metal But you probably don't want to take like mercury and arsenic and lead.
Starting point is 00:10:26 And that those are things that are included at times in some of the Ayurvedic medicines. Those would have the mystery up on them. Yes, you don't want to drink those. They should have a tag this August and don't drink these. Listen, keep out. And that's why actually today in India, you have to list, because Ayurvedic medicine is still practiced, not by everyone, but it is still practiced. You have to list what kind of metals you might include
Starting point is 00:10:49 in your medication so that people know what they're getting so they don't take toxic doses. They probably shouldn't take it at all, but at least don't take toxic doses. And- So you're saying a light amount of arsenic is A, okay. Well, I can have a light amount of arsenic. What I was saying is we are-
Starting point is 00:11:05 A useful amount of ourself. We are all exposed to small amounts of these substances throughout our daily existence. Okay. But in these medications, you have to list what's in them so that if you perhaps don't want to take mercury, which that would be me, you can avoid them. And that's why in the US,
Starting point is 00:11:25 the FDA has not approved any of them. And they've also put import alerts on a lot of these medications because we've had many cases of heavy metal toxicity among people in the US who are taking them. Okay, so that's troublesome. Yes, so let's get to oil pulling. Okay, I'm ready. It comes from, like I mentioned, one of the Ayurvedic texts, the Shoraka Samita, and this may actually be the oldest of the text, the foundational text. It's not entirely certain. Three hundred to five hundred is a good estimate. It may date back to one hundred, but that's not a hundred percent clear talking about.
Starting point is 00:12:01 Yes. And it has a lot of health advice. Again, it doesn't just talk about like hearing disease. It also gives advice on like setting up hospitals. What kind of people would make good nurses, but also a lot of really practical hygiene advice. And you have to remember like to put it in context. This is a time period when the best thing
Starting point is 00:12:23 you could do for your health is probably taking a shower, washing your clothes. It's interesting for all the crazy medical things we've attempted over the past forever, we would have gotten halfway there with a lot of this stuff via proper hygiene. Hygiene would have been the most important breakthrough for a lot of the stuff, you know, in and of itself. Absolutely. Well, that's why it's probably the most, I mean, of all of the treatments and kind of, these are the things you should do, advice listed in the text. I think this is the most helpful, maybe even today, is keep yourself clean, you know, inside and out. and that's a good way to avoid disease.
Starting point is 00:13:07 As part of that, part of the daily routine, they list oil pulling, or oil gargle, is how it's listed. This is, it said that it will prevent disease, strengthen tissues, and sense organs. That is a quote from the text. That's what it's supposed to do. Okay. Sounds good. Here's how they describe doing it. So this is straight from, you know,
Starting point is 00:13:28 straight from the book, oil gargle. It provides strength in jaws and voice, development of face, maximum taste and relish in food. I like that. I'm into that. One does not suffer from dryness of throat, lip cracking, tooth cavities, pain in teeth, over sensitivity of teeth on taking sour taste. Other things we can't, we can't be. Yeah, sour is definitely your cool.
Starting point is 00:13:51 Just sour. Teeth become firm rooted and able to chew even the hardest food. That's something that I've been looking for in my day to day. That's actually really exciting for me. I love to be able to chew harder stuff. I'm always pushing myself Trying to take it to the limit. I may I'm no matter either lab, but I'll I'll you know, I'll choose some hard food I'll eat some hard tack have some Jawbreakers from the time. I thought I thought that your teeth were kind of soft
Starting point is 00:14:17 Well, there's no need to get like personal Just wondering I just I thought I thought that was the thing about you. It's fine. Okay I just was wondering, I just thought that was the thing about you. It's fine. Okay. Well, then you would enjoy oil gargling because it can make your teeth very strong. And to put this in, again, in more context, this is, if you look at the sections right before and after this, right before oil gargle, are several descriptions of oral cleaning routines. So, early toothbrushes and the process of brushing your teeth,
Starting point is 00:14:49 tongue scraping, how to wash your mouth out with various fruits and leaves and things. There's this whole kind of oral hygiene section then. And then right after that, they after some extra uses for oils that they go into, like oiling your head and ears and massaging with it and things like that, they have a whole section on the importance
Starting point is 00:15:09 of bathing and cleaning your clothes. So again, that's where this thing, it's kind of like part of your daily hygiene routine. That's where you would fit this in. Now, Sid, I wanna hear all about the modern take on oil pulling because I have a feeling that's where we're headed next to. That is Justin.
Starting point is 00:15:29 Thank you. I have a sense for these things. But before we get into that, I want to take a moment. I know that you are new to the Maximum Fun Network. I've obviously been on it since 2011 or something. I've been on it since 2011. Okay, we don't need to get like that. It doesn't need to be personal.
Starting point is 00:15:47 But every year at the maximum fun network, we do the thing called the max fund drive. As you know, all our shows are free to listen to. We don't force anybody to pay to listen to these programs. We want this to be free for everybody to enjoy. I'm very weak. I probably couldn't force you to pay. I want to. I'm very weak. I probably couldn't force you to pay. I want to.
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Starting point is 00:16:24 of your money to help pay for the programming on maximum fun Now this doesn't just go to solbones of course It goes to my brother my brother me it goes to George S. Go and bullseye and lady to lady this goes to other shows it goes to okay It does go to other shows you don't tell me that port This helps us buy equipment. It helps us Pay for people to make the shows and record the shows and produce the shows.
Starting point is 00:16:47 Oh, sweet you all that ourselves. But lots of the cool shows have producers that they have to pay, people who work for them, et cetera. And it, it, it, it, but it'll make Justin feel good about himself. It will. Because he does all that. Yeah, it made me feel like a big tough guy.
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Starting point is 00:18:17 Yes. So we will be as cats. We will be as cats. That was not her full name. No, no. She yeah, we were drawn as cats. It is delightful. If you can be she didn't have my permission, but it is granted retroactively because it's pretty cute drawing. 20 dollars a month, you're going to be a member of the Diamond Friendship Circle. You're going to get the Max Fun Morning Essentials Kit. This is really cool. You get a cobalt blue Max Fun Rocket mug, which is very tasteful and stylish. I have bag of Tonks Coffee, which we have been enjoying. We have been.
Starting point is 00:18:48 I have been despite the fact that I'm not, oh no, I'm not really supposed to. What? Well, you have a little bit. I have a little bit of coffee. I have under 200 milligrams, it's totally safe. Totally cool. So I've been, I've been having that just because it's so delicious.
Starting point is 00:19:00 And Tonks Coffee usually comes with a description of where it is made, because it comes from different places all the time. I have regaled you. You can test a description of where it is made because it comes from different places all the time. I have regaled you, you can test with stories of where coffee is. A bar comes from and how it's supposed to taste. All the notes that I should pick up. It's the delicate notes, and you're also going to get a bar of stack soap, which is amazing because it is a bar of soap with a dividend in it.
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Starting point is 00:20:38 is your favorite show on maximum fund. Even if it's not, say it is. Just say it is because listen, we got a baby on the way. All right, there. I didn't want to. We got another mount to feed. We got another mount to feed, okay? So just do that. Even if it's not just say it is because listen we got a baby on the way all right there I didn't want to get another mouth to feed another mouth to feed okay, so just do that don't take this money out of your medical emergency fund I know how important that is I preach about that. Yeah, but if you got an extra fiber. Hey, hey kick it in maximum fund.org First-lash donate do it now and Again, sorry for the interruption, but we only do this once a year. What we have, well, pledged to go for 10 days.
Starting point is 00:21:05 So next week we'll remind you about it, but do it now. Don't wait. Maximum fund.org for us. Donate. And with that said, Sydney, how do I properly do oil pulling since you said my method is inadequate?
Starting point is 00:21:19 Well, now that you're back, I know you're happy to be back for this disgusting description. I'm ready. I'm pumped. How to do oil pulling. So here's what you do. And you can take this for me, but trust me, if you, if you Google this, you are going to find a million different descriptions. And they'll all have their own little nuances on how they prefer to do it. In general, the idea is that first thing each morning before you eat anything. So it's important that this is on an empty stomach. You take one to two teaspoons of an oil.
Starting point is 00:21:47 Now, preferably, this was traditionally listed as sesame oil. If you look around online, you'll see a lot of people like to use coconut oil, but then there are probably just as many people who say you're not supposed to use coconut oil. I have no reason to believe it matters, anyway. So you can use coconut, you can use sesame,
Starting point is 00:22:05 you can use sunflower, olive oil, any of these. Okay. I don't think western is an option. Fair enough. That's fine. So you take this one to two teaspoons, depending on what you can handle, you put it in your mouth, and you swish it around
Starting point is 00:22:20 for 15 to 20 minutes. That sounds like so boring. That will take forever. Now they recognize that you probably at first are gonna like try five minutes. Okay. But you wanna work your way up because everybody will tell you online, all the people on the internet that know these things,
Starting point is 00:22:38 that it doesn't work, unless you can do it for at least 15 minutes, but 20 preferably. Because it's the swishing that really helps. Okay, so that will take forever. So I'm a little daunted, but I wanna hang in there. So what I do, I just switched it around for 15 to 20 minutes.
Starting point is 00:22:52 Then you spit it out into a trash can. Not the sink, I'm assuming because oil can cloud up your plumbing. Precisely. So spit it out into a trash can. And then you don't have to do this, but a lot of people suggest you rinse your mouth out with warm water or even brush your teeth afterwards just because it feels Yeah, yeah, and now they tell you that the oil will have changed colors and the idea
Starting point is 00:23:15 So it'll it'll be clear at first, but then it'll be like Fomey and white at the end and that's because it's absorbed all of your toxins and so that's why it's a different color. It's been switched around in your yucky mouth for a while so there are probably a lot of reasons but either way the oil should have changed color when you spit it out so you're supposed to look for that. Make sure that it's a different color. So why would you do this? I don't know. I don't know. My mouth hurts and it takes like oil. I don't know why I did all this. So it's been claimed that oil pulling can cure just about everything. I found a list that was, I actually stole this list from somebody so I'll reference him
Starting point is 00:23:58 because I stole it directly from him. Because I was looking for like all the things online, page by page that you could cure with oil pulling. And I found one guy, Mike Rothschild, who does Skeptoid podcast, and he made a whole list, so I'm just quoting his wholesale. So this is what you will find on the internet that it can treat.
Starting point is 00:24:14 Chronic pain, insomnia, cavities, allergies, thrombosis, diabetes, asthma, bad breath, gingivitis, digestive issues, meningitis, low energy, heart disease, kidney disease, toxic bodily waste, PMS, leukemia, and even AIDS. Okay. Now, now to me, Sydney, sitting here in my chair, that sounds a little bit like a cure-all, a bit like a cure-all to me.
Starting point is 00:24:43 I think that's a fair assessment considering that I just I just had a list with both bad breath and leukemia in it fair enough. Okay, but our general rule is the cure all's cure nothing right is that the case for oil pulling. Okay, not not entirely. I don't want to say okay, I don't want to say that it cures anything. I get suspicious of anything when we start talking about toxins because toxins is, I have learned this is what I believe personally based on like science and crap is that toxins are kind of like the boogie man of a lot of people who are into natural remedies for things, then toxins is kind of non-specific and it doesn't mean a lot, right?
Starting point is 00:25:33 That's entirely true. That's one of the points that I read a lot about this because I know there are gonna be people who are gonna argue with me that this is a good idea. So I read a lot about this and one thing you need to, one point that was made, there's a really good article on this concept of toxins and referenced oil pulling in then in general on discovery health if you want to check it out. But it, it talks about the fact that your teeth in your mouth shouldn't be toxic
Starting point is 00:25:58 to begin with. I know that's what. Yeah, it's not. Well, that's what I'm trying to get rid of. That's the problem, right? Well, no, it's not toxic. Your body shouldn't be toxic. I know. That is why I'm trying to get him out. I would always question something that is supposed to be a detoxifier because I mean, I'm familiar with what toxins are. For instance, you can get like, staffle-clackle food poisoning, which is a toxin food poisoning,
Starting point is 00:26:23 and then you, you know, puke your guts out for several hours, and then it goes away. But like that's specific. You shouldn't be full of these. Or fair and gas, like in 24. Sure. So I mean, there are certainly toxins. I hope you don't have them, but most of us aren't walking around with them. Um, so I would always be skeptical of that.
Starting point is 00:26:40 And you have systems in your body that naturally get rid of things that would be toxic to you, correct? Yes. Exactly. Like sometimes you just puke or poop it out. skeptical of that. And you have systems in your body that naturally get rid of things that would be toxic to you, correct? Yes, exactly. Like, sometimes you just puke or poop it out. I don't know, like, kidney or your liver or something. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:52 You have lots of ways to try to rid your body of toxic substances naturally. Yeah. I mean, if we didn't, we'd be, our species would never have survived. So if we take the toxin thing off the table, what can oil pulling do for me? So there are a lot of studies. If you do, if you do some like actual look for research papers, people have done real, real deal science studies on this. There are lots on its effect on oral health. The results though are kind of inconsistent. I found some studies and some studies show that it works as like a mouthwash.
Starting point is 00:27:25 So if you put it up against chlorhexidine mouthwash, it was just a common component of mouthwash that your mouth gets just as clean, whether you use mouthwash or, you know, oil. Some studies say that it really doesn't add anything to a daily health routine if you're already brushing and flossing or using a water pick, which you would you love. Yeah, I like your water pick. I like my water pick. So if you're already doing those things, adding oil pulling probably doesn't help.
Starting point is 00:27:52 Now, there have been some positive results. There are some studies that say, well, but when we look at the colony counts of bacteria in your mouth before and after, they're lower. Okay. Statistically significantly lower if you do oil pulling. And these bacteria, we know, can contribute to plaque and gingivitis and cavities and bad breath.
Starting point is 00:28:14 And so while oil pulling isn't going to cure a cavity, maybe it can reduce your chances of getting one by killing some of these bacteria, that's one of the theories that the studies put forth, and maybe it makes your breath better because it's going to kill these bacteria. So should everybody start oil pulling right now then? Well there are some problems with these studies. So I read quite a few of them, and let me say that first of all, by and large, they're
Starting point is 00:28:41 very small. Are you familiar with what an N is? Have I told you that before in a study? The number of people in the study, or the number of whatever is in the study? Very good. Thank you. The number of participants.
Starting point is 00:28:52 So a lot of the studies that I looked at are very small have an end of like 10 or 20. So 10 or 20 people that were checking. So 10 people, used oil pulling, 10 people used mouthwash, what's the difference? That's tough to be statistically significant and really see differences at that level. That's really hard. Some of the ones that I found that were a little better were like blinded studies that were done in a scientifically
Starting point is 00:29:14 accurate way. We're only done on adolescents. And this is my problem with that. How good are kids at brushing their teeth? Bad. So if they're doing anything for their dental hygiene, isn't that a little better? Yes. And I didn't see if they controlled for that. I did not find evidence that they were necessarily controlling for how good these kids were taking care
Starting point is 00:29:33 of their teeth to begin with. Okay. They also found a lot of studies with people who already had plaque or halitosis, bad breath. So again, what was their oral hygiene like to begin with? I don't know. Because I mean, the question of, is this better than nothing keeps popping up?
Starting point is 00:29:53 And I would say that there's definitely evidence that it's better than nothing. But a lot of these studies too are really strongly biased. They're people who you should never go into, I mean, everybody goes into a scientific study with a hypothesis. We believe there will be this difference or we believe there won't be this difference. But you shouldn't go into science with an agenda. I think that oil pulling is the best thing on earth. And I'm going to keep doing studies until I find evidence to support it. If you go at or vice versa, I believe the oil pulling is BS. And so I'm
Starting point is 00:30:23 going to keep doing studies until I prove it wrong. If you're going in with that bias, your research is tainted. A lot of the studies are people wanting oil pulling to be this great thing. They're written that way. There's a lot of subjective information in them. There's a lot of, we don't write flowery in science. We don't say things like, now this is proven to be a viable alternative to chemicals and things like that.
Starting point is 00:30:52 I mean, we don't use that kind of, that's the kind of thing you see in commercials. So if you're reading that in a study, I'd raise an eyebrow. It does sound like though, that like, if you, maybe you were somebody who was already brushing and flossing and didn't like the super stringent or a stringent mouthwash that do feel very chemically, that this is a pretty decent natural alternative. I think that that's a fair thing to say. A lot of people have made the point at the end of all of, you know, kind of their synthesis
Starting point is 00:31:29 of the data that I have done. I would arrive at the same conclusion, which is that it's probably better than nothing. And if you're already brushing and flossing, it probably can't hurt. You know, if you want to add it to your routine or replace your mouthwashing routine, I don't know a lot of people who are that good that they brush, floss, and use mouthwash every day. So if you're already at that level, I don't think replacing it with oil is gonna hurt you.
Starting point is 00:31:52 No, your game is already elevated. No. Don't let us sit here and tell you how to clean your mouth because you are a professional. Exactly, but I will say this, all those other claims, HIV and PMS and heart disease and all that crap that they say that it's going to fix, I didn't find anything to support that.
Starting point is 00:32:13 There's a lot of theorizing in these studies that, hey, if we reduce the bacteria in your mouth, it restores your oral health and that this is part of your whole healthy balance. And so holistically, it's going to affect the rest of your body. So everything else gets better. No, I don't have any evidence for that. So I would not try to start oil pulling as a cure for your diabetes. Please, if you have meningitis, go to an emergency room immediately. Actually, no, call 911.
Starting point is 00:32:39 Stop what you're doing. Stop listening to this podcast, call 911. I don't know why if you have meningitis, you're not in the hospital. Let's listen to this podcast call 911. I don't know why if you have meningitis, you're not in the hospital. And if you have leukemia or heart disease, see a doctor, please. Yes, don't.
Starting point is 00:32:52 Now, will it hurt? Said, like, this is a tough question. I saw it for a while. I'm basically like, you know, if I do this instead of, of a, Sure. A classical treatment for real disease
Starting point is 00:33:05 that it could be dangerous, but I mean, is there a danger to it outside of that? No, I think you're exactly the biggest danger is people doing this instead of like taking insulin, but there is some small evidence that it could be harmful. There are a handful of cases where people have aspirated on the oil while they've been swishing, and these are people who usually are at that 20 minute mark who swish for that long.
Starting point is 00:33:28 So they aspirate, it goes down their trachea. You understand they're not swallowing it. It's going into their airways. And it can lead to a lipoid-induced pneumonia. So a pneumonia that is caused by, you know, a big wad of nasty bacteria-filled oil being lodged in your lungs. Basically, they're doing their oil pulling, listening to an episode of solvones. Oh, man, Justin just said the funniest thing.
Starting point is 00:33:51 I start laughing. Oops, it's in my throat. I got a moan. Right. I mean, kind of a ludicrous scenario that, you know, you would not mean. No, I mean, it's possibly in things. I mean, it's likely I would guess probably it's definitely haven't. But again, this is a small
Starting point is 00:34:06 That is a small in right there. There's not a lot of ends No, no, oil got pneumonia That's very small and there are people who will bring up like this theoretical situation where what if you aspirated on Enough oil to stop breathing then maybe you could die. Okay. Well, all right I think let's just pump the brakes there pocket enough oil to stop breathing than maybe you could die. Okay, well, all right then. Let's just pump the brakes there, Paka. I think barring some really catastrophic event, like, I don't know, an earthquake occurring
Starting point is 00:34:32 while you're oil pulling or somebody punching you in the gut or like if you, okay, if you have problems swallowing for some reason, if you have some problem with your swallowing mechanics, don't oil pull maybe. But otherwise, I can't see that happening really. I mean, I suppose it could, but I think it's highly unlikely.
Starting point is 00:34:50 But it may be a reason to consider limiting your swishing should you choose to do this to five to 10 minutes instead of 15 to 20. But that, the more do as much as I can. Well, but that's the thing. People will tell you that that won't work. So. Okay. Here would be my take on point.
Starting point is 00:35:05 Okay. All right. If you already blot brush and floss, which you should be doing, or a water pick, if you don't like flossing, water pick is acceptable. But if you already do this, there's not a lot of evidence
Starting point is 00:35:16 that this will add anything to your routine. You're doing a good job. Your teeth are probably as healthy as they're going to get. Keep up the good work. See your dentist. Don't worry. If you want to add this to that routine, you're probably okay. Please try not to aspirate on the oil. If you can. If you have trouble swallowing, don't do it. How about that? If there's any problem with your airway and or swallowing mechanism. The farthest
Starting point is 00:35:43 that I would be willing to go is to say that maybe this is a viable alternative to mouthwash. If you don't like mouthwash, so brush floss, use some oil and some mouthwash. If you don't like mouthwash and you have 20 minutes to kill in your day that you'd like to fill somehow with swishing. If you do, I have so jealous of your life. How is your life going? It sounds pretty good to me right now. I think I can maybe pull this off on Saturdays. I think that would be the first I could go.
Starting point is 00:36:12 But none of this is not. Even then, I would do coffee break in the middle. And I think that would probably defeat the purpose. This is the big thing for me. If there is not a compelling reason that I have to swish olive oil around in my mouth for 20 minutes every morning. I'm not going to do it.
Starting point is 00:36:28 Fair enough. So that is the dirt people on oil pulling. Take what you will from that. Take what you will from that, but there is our take on it. We hope that you enjoyed a lot of people. This probably our most requested one ever. I hope I haven't killed anybody's spirit. Anybody's spirit.
Starting point is 00:36:47 What's the thing about it this guy's, here's the broad point, right? There's no magic bullet. We'd all like to think that there's one thing that we could do, and if we just did this one little easy thing then all of our health problems would remedy, but that's not the case. And it's never gonna be the case ever.
Starting point is 00:37:01 We're not gonna find that magic bullet that fixes all this stuff. The body's too complicated for that. The body is an incredible machine and it's not gonna be fixed case ever. We're not gonna find that magic bullet that fixes all this stuff. The body is too complicated for that. The body is an incredible machine and it's not gonna be fixed by one simple thing. And remember that when this was proposed, it made a lot of sense. People didn't have access to toothbrushes
Starting point is 00:37:15 and water picks and weren't flossing. So it made a lot of sense to do something like this. Anything swishing was probably better than what people were doing. So it comes from a real place. We've got some better ways of cleaning your mouth today. If you really want to do it, I mean, that's okay, but yeah, Justin's right. It's not a cure all.
Starting point is 00:37:33 Nothing's that simple. It does pass my test though. Which is. My test is that if there is something that is not really well studied or proven to do anything, if it's cheap and it's safe. Well, okay. It makes you feel better.
Starting point is 00:37:50 And maybe it cleans your mouth a little better. I think it's okay. So this is cheap and safe. That was not necessarily gonna end up on a cross stitch anytime soon, but I can definitely see. This is true, cheap, safe. And, you know, you know,
Starting point is 00:38:04 maybe your breath is a little fresher. Maybe you prefer the smell of sesame oil too. To winch it in. I don't know, we got the history, no, I'm not sure. So thank you so much for listening to our program. We sure hope you enjoy it. I want to give you one more reminder that we are in the middle of the max fund drive
Starting point is 00:38:23 for $5 a month, 44 hours of bonus content is insane. There's new stuff, if you've donated in the past, there's all new stuff from every max fund show. At $10 a month, you're gonna get a calendar, a beautiful calendar. A kitty calendar. A kitty calendar.
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Starting point is 00:39:16 it's about supporting the things that you really care about. And you really like it. Hopefully, we fall into that category. And Justin. If you like our show and you want like and hopefully like me we fall into that category. And Justin. If you like our show and you want to help us make more of it and also to make other shows on this network, it would just mean the world to us if you could kick in a few bucks. Go to maximumfund.org slash donate to to pledge your gift now. This is only going to be a two episode thing.
Starting point is 00:39:44 We're not going to harp on you for cash, but once a year it really does help us to make more great stuff and we hope that you agree that great stuff should be made and can help us with a donation. And thank you so much. Yeah, I had an advance. Anything anything you got laying around to send our way. Be sure to tell us on Twitter so I can thank you because it really does mean the world. And choose Sabo. And again, baby on the way.
Starting point is 00:40:07 That's right. Gotta gotta keep the show on the air. We're like a pirate radio station, just fighting a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a If you once you get done with that maybe go to iTunes and review and you guys all this stuff subscribe all that good good stuff tweet read out a Email at sobons sobons at maximum fundador gcmail dress But you know that stuff this week. We don't want to infringe on any more of your free time here So we will just say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening
Starting point is 00:40:42 Thank you and advance for donating if you can and We will see you next Tuesday for another episode of Salve Island's A Dildin. I'm Justin McRoy. I'm Sydney McRoy. As always, don't drill a hole in your head. Alright! Maximumfund.org Comedy and Culture, Artistone, Listener Supported

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